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Girl Genius and the Rats of Mechanicsburg
Girl Genius and the Rats of Mechanicsburg is (or was) a multiplatform game developed by Stephen Beeman of Gizmocracy. The Kickstarter for the game was first mentioned on girlgeniusonline.com on the same day the by including a street sign saying Beeman Strasse'. The Kickstarter project launched on 29 November 2012 with a goal of $7,500. The initial goal was met in less than 24 hours. This project was funded on 24 December 2012, with $108,195 pledged by 2,989 backers. The Game The game features Krosp as the main character, piloting a two-legged walker similar to Șoarece (a vehicle Krosp is seen operating in volume 12), but with arms, and using it to battle mechanical mice and maneuver past various death-traps. In an announcement on February 11, 2014, Beeman revealed some details of the game: Weighing in at 144MB, the app contains: * 25MB of high-resolution textures created by the inestimable Cheyenne Wright * Over 200 lines of dialog recorded by Phil and Kaja, along with professional voice actress and chanteuse Kelly Wright (no relation to Cheyenne) * Fifty game levels of deathtraps and deadly mechanical mice (to quote the Castle: "I love these little mechanical mice. They're so cute when they explode!") * A whopping 30,012 lines of code. The game was officially released on March 25, 2014 in both iOS and Android versions. A YouTube video displaying Android gameplay can be seen here. However, there were no further updates of any sort from Beeman regarding the project, several backers complained about not receiving their promised program key, and numerous proposed additions (such as a level editor) never materialized. As of 2018, while the Android version of the game is still being advertised for sale on Amazon, the Kickstarter links to the two released versions are no longer functional and Gizmocracy appears to have no working website or contact address. The Kickstarter Project Stretch Goals All of the stretch goals were met. The first stretch goal was met before it was announced; the initial funding goal for the project was met so quickly that the project organizer, Stephen Beeman (who was also the game developer), was taken by surprise. *$12,500 unlocked - Android Support (initially this game was announced as being iOS only) **Intended for Android 2.3.3 and up; there may be support for Ouya later. **Will follow the iOS version, hopefully within two months. **Android-specific reward tiers; do not include the paper doll app, but will include a copy of The Rats of Mechanicsburg app. *$25,000 unlocked - Cheyenne Wright joins the project to contribute 3-D model texture art. *$40,000 unlocked - soundtrack (by George "The Fat Man" Sanger) and voice track (Phil, Kaja and the Studio Foglio gang, backed up by other professional voices) will be added to game *$75,000 unlocked - level editor and PC/Mac/Linux version of the game **Intended to be released in the winter of 2013, alongside an update to Android and iOS games **Allows users to create custom levels with monsters, game objects, story elements, and scripted events. **Free for those who donated the minimum amount in the kickstarter campaign. **As noted above, these rewards were never released. *$100,000 unlocked - The Rats of Europa - a level server where you can upload new levels you have created for the game and download and play new levels created by others. **Intended to be released by the end of 2013. **Level creators will get a town of their own to fill with levels deep in the Transylvanian mountains. **Leaderboards to track: most visitors, highest rated by visitors, and visitor deaths. **Again, these rewards were never released. In addition, for the paper doll app (currently for iOS devices only) were promised as additional stretch goals as follows: *$50,000 unlocked - Tarvek *$60,000 unlocked - Bang *$70,000 unlocked - von Zinzer *$80,000 unlocked - Klaus *$90,000 unlocked - Mamma *$100,000 unlocked - Da Boyz: Dimo, Maxim, and Oggie Stephen Beeman stated that there will also be a new Krosp I, Emperor of All Cats paper doll, in a heroic pose. Kaja said something about nekomimi maid outfits for all the characters. Kickstarter Perks & Benefits Those that donated to the kickstarter campaign will receive perks and benefits directly tied to their donation level and lower. *$4 (Citizen - Android edition) **a copy of the Rats of Mechanicsburg game **access to pre-release forum to interact with developers **name listed on in-game honor roll *$4 (Citizen - iOS edition) **access to pre-release forum to interact with developers **name on -in-game honor roll **bonus paper doll app *$24 (Minion) **special recognition on in-game honor roll **digital portfolio of game concept and production artwork **copper-finish medal identifying you as one of Heterodyne's most loyal minions *$74 (Scholar) **first eleven volumes of Girl Genius, PDF form **includes 12th bonus volume, The Secret Blueprints *$124 (Burgermeister) **special recognition on in-game honor roll **silver-finished medal **exclusive stein featuring full-color art **chance to interact with developers on ideas for the next Girl Genius game *$250 (Heterodyne Lab Assistant, Junior Grade) **beta testing; beta copy will update to release version **special recognition on in-game honor roll **listing in game credits as a beta tester **gold-finished medal *$300 (Heterodyne Lab Assistant, Senior Grade) **alpha testing; alpha copy will update to beta, then to release version **special recognition on in-game honor roll **listing in game credits as alpha tester **one piece of original game concept art signed by Phil Foglio or entire development team (your choice) *$1,000 (Esteemed Fellow Spark) **no sketch, but name will appear in the comic **receive autographed copy of that day's comic page **you and a friend can join the team at their wrap party in Seattle (trans. and lodging not paid) (alternative perk available) Category:Games Category:Outside World